Backup Images on the Go

[thomahawk]

Ok so i'll be going on a trip soon. for about a week or 2. i wont be bringing a computer nor will i have access to a computer. I only have 2 4gb memory cards on me.

i shoot in RAW and using a Rebel XSi its about 10 to 15mb a shot. which gives me roughly 220 pictures each memory card. i know i will be taking a LOT of pictures on my trip. but i feel that 2 4gb might not be enough

i heard there is a device which allows you to back up your images onto a harddrive or something. that way i can clean out my memory card and shoot more with no worries

i have been thinking about getting more memory cards. but i just want to see if anyone new a good cheap backup harddrive for cameras

thanks

 

[dllavaneras]

There are portable hard drive solutions, like the HyperDrive. I've been looking to get one myself, although I have absolutely no experience with any kind of device of this sort.

You can search amazon for digital photo storage and see plenty of results. Read the reviews, though!

 

[yaroldb]

I've had this same problem. I have five 4gb cards and that is not nearly enough. I have a 5th gen Ipod. The 30gb type. My wife also has one. We seldom use them anymore (iPhones) so I just wipe them clean and use both with an ipod camera adapter. It's a little slow, so having a few cards is worth it. Backing up is easy and you'll need to charge your iPod fully to take a full card.

 

[Jimmys]

I have looked into this one but I have not got it yet so I have no experience with it. Its a lot cheaper then the hyper drive one.

 

[HBOC]

i know the epson P3000 or P2000 even, are very popular. You can find them on ebay for a reasonable price.

 

[jampat]

I have had a hyperdrive HD80 http://www.hyperdrive.com/HyperDrive-HD80-s/2.htm for 3 years and absolutely love it. It works perfectly every time. It has been to Africa and all over north america and normally lives in my camera backpack so it is not abused, but it is not babied either. It copies about 1 gig/minute and runs on AA batteries that can be found anywhere. Supposedly it can do 80 gigs on one set of NiMH, but I have never had that much data to transfer that quickly (NiMH self drain over a few weeks anyway). I have done 40 gigs on one set of 2500mAh batteries and they were still working though.

I ordered on a tuesday, they said they were backordered so they would throw in 8 free NiMH AA's, I got it in Canada on Friday morning and only had to pay $2 duty or something like that. I was very impressed.

Some things to keep in mind.
1)HD80 does not let you view pictures (it gives you a smiley face when copying is done)
2)The only time it has ever failed is when the drive got fragmented. It can only write into free space at the end of the drive, so if you delete files off it, be sure to degfragment after.
3)I don't have first hand experience, but when I was researching this before, the Epson drives allowed you to view the pics, but copied 1 gig every 10 minutes and only copied 8 gigs before needing their non-replaceable battery recharged. At the time the HD80 was the clear winner by miles.
4)Hyperdrive has many new drives with built-in batteries and viewing screens, I have no experience with them but I have never regretting buying the HD80 and would buy another one in a second if this one died.

Hope this helps, have fun on your trip.

EDIT: If you pick up one of these card readers/hard drives, new opportunities arise for you. At a wedding for instance, you can sometimes convince people to let you copy their cards, then you have a crapload of pics from different viewpoints quite easily.

HD80 is unable to write to the memory card without a computer. Your cards going in are completely safe from accidental deletion. You must clear the cards with your camera before you use them again.

 

[thomahawk]

thanks for all the suggestions!

im eying that HD80 now

 

[dlegend]

for $300 you could always look at getting a netbook too.

 

[glennp]

The hyperdrives and similar can be great but don't overthink the solution. If 8GB is borderline ("might not be enough"), why not just buy some more compact flash cards. For around half the cost of a device, you can get another 20GB of quality CF cards (e.g., Ultra II 8GB cards are about $30, 4GB are $20). Three or four CF cards will triple or quadruple your storage and are smaller and less susceptible to damage. If shooting over 30GB is a possibility or having a backup while traveling is the priority, by all means, go with a device. Just a thought.

 

[a350]

If you only have one copy you do not have a backup.

Transferring your photos from your card to a device and then reusing the card is not having a backup, you've simply transferred your images from one place to another.

To really backup you will backup to a device and keep the images on the card as well or backup to two devices.

I would personally hate it if I backed up all my images onto a device and then reused the cards only to find out later that the images on the device somehow disappeared due to either loss or corruption of data.

If the images are once in a lifetime shots I strongly recommend you buy more cards and buy a device to back them up onto and keep the two in separate places, not in one camera bag.

 

[HBOC]

If you only have one copy you do not have a backup.

Transferring your photos from your card to a device and then reusing the card is not having a backup, you've simply transferred your images from one place to another.

To really backup you will backup to a device and keep the images on the card as well or backup to two devices.

I would personally hate it if I backed up all my images onto a device and then reused the cards only to find out later that the images on the device somehow disappeared due to either loss or corruption of data.

If the images are once in a lifetime shots I strongly recommend you buy more cards and buy a device to back them up onto and keep the two in separate places, not in one camera bag.

This is the truth, for sure! Although he isn't a pro, it is relevant. I would go with more cards AND a device, especially if you are going somewhere you haven't been before. You can pick up an Epson P2000 or something for pretty cheap, and i am sure there are better products out there, and cheaper ones.

 

[jampat]

The hyperdrives and similar can be great but don't overthink the solution. If 8GB is borderline ("might not be enough"), why not just buy some more compact flash cards. For around half the cost of a device, you can get another 20GB of quality CF cards (e.g., Ultra II 8GB cards are about $30, 4GB are $20). Three or four CF cards will triple or quadruple your storage and are smaller and less susceptible to damage. If shooting over 30GB is a possibility or having a backup while traveling is the priority, by all means, go with a device. Just a thought.

He has a very valid point here. 3 years ago, 8 gigs of cards was more than the Hyperdrive. That being said, knowing you can shoot all you want without fear of running out of space is nice too.

As for data security, I don't know the exact numbers, but I would expect that hard drives (ie.Hyperdrive) fail more often than memory cards (and lose a lot more data when they do). Obviously the most secure solution is duplicate data (either card & drive or 2 drives) but this is also the most expensive way forward.

 

[glennp]

If you only have one copy you do not have a backup.

For sure. I definitely didn't mean to imply that having just one copy on the device was a backup -- I inserted one of my rationales for a device like that and it came out wrong. That part probably could've been written as: "or if using the device to store secondary copies of your images while traveling is a priority"

If the OP is just looking at expanding shooting capacity, I'd recommend just some extra CF cards over a device unless he's planning on shooting a lot of images*. For extra shooting capacity and having some backup while traveling, I'd recommend both some extra cards and a device.

* but the compulsive in me would still make a plan for backup rather than rely on just the device.

 

[dmmcintyre3]

I would take a computer, card readers and portable hard drives/ flash drives for the computer. If I was going to take 25 GB of pictures and had 25 GB free on the computer's HD I would still take the portable HD to copy the 25 GB of pictures to the HD / flash drive.

If your computer is stolen you have the pictures still on the HD if you keep the HD separate from the computer. Express card / PCMCIA SSD is good and small so you can remove it from the computer and keep it in your pocket

 

[jampat]

I would take a computer, card readers and portable hard drives/ flash drives for the computer. If I was going to take 25 GB of pictures and had 25 GB free on the computer's HD I would still take the portable HD to copy the 25 GB of pictures to the HD / flash drive.

If your computer is stolen you have the pictures still on the HD if you keep the HD separate from the computer. Express card / PCMCIA SSD is good and small so you can remove it from the computer and keep it in your pocket

Although this will work, now you are carrying one hell of a lot of stuff, extra compact flash cards and/or the HD80 are not significantly larger than a card reader. By the time you are carrying a laptop, cables, power supplies, a card reader and an external hard drive, taking pictures seems almost not worth the effort (to me anyway).